Sharon Wins Vote For Party Leadership

Jerusalem — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday won an overwhelming mandate from his rightist Likud Party on a day overshadowed by deadly attacks against Israeli civilians at home and abroad.

Sharon, who had been expected to trounce Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Likud leadership contest, did just that, taking 59 percent of the vote among Likud members, compared with 38 percent for Netanyahu, in early returns from half the polling stations. Television stations forecast Sharon would win by 61 percent to 37 percent.

Netanyahu conceded defeat late Thursday and told supporters that he had phoned Sharon to congratulate him. "Now we must work as a united Likud so that we can work for our principles," he said.

Analysts said there were fears that voter turnout would fall in response to the simultaneous attacks in Kenya that left 15 people dead, including three Israelis, and a shooting in Israel at a polling place in the town of Beit Shean that killed six Israelis and wounded dozens.

Sharon, in an emotional appeal Thursday night, indicated the attack in Beit Shean was a maneuver by Palestinian militant factions to disrupt the Israeli political process.

"Don't give terrorists influence," Sharon said in an unexpected, nationally televised address two hours before polls were to close. "Go and vote."

The winner of the Likud race, according to the most recent polls, is likely to win general elections Jan. 28. Labor leader Amram Mitzna, elected in a separate party leadership vote last week, has vowed to wage a tough campaign against Likud, calling for peace negotiations amid the Palestinian uprising.

The leadership battle within the largest right-wing party in Israel was in many respects a referendum on how best to resolve the unrelenting violence between Palestinians and Israelis.

Even before polls opened at 10 a.m., the first reports of twin attacks in Kenya made news on Israeli state-run radio and television. According to police and witness accounts, a car packed with explosives broke through security gates and exploded near the lobby of a holiday hotel in Mombasa owned by an Israeli and frequented by Israeli tourists. About the same time, two missiles fired from the ground narrowly missed an Israeli charter plane leaving Mombasa.

Netanyahu, who was scheduled to make a publicity stop for reporters at his polling place in Jerusalem, canceled that appearance and turned up at the Foreign Ministry to lash out at "a serious escalation of international terrorism." The former prime minister had campaigned for a tougher stance against Palestinians and had rejected creation of a Palestinian state, a direct challenge to Sharon.

Sharon took to the airwaves hours later after two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a polling station in Beit Shean and a nearby bus station, triggering a firefight with police, security guards and armed passers-by.

Six Israelis were killed and as many as three dozen wounded in the gunfight, police said. The Palestinian gunmen were also killed in the attack.

A woman who saw the attack from her home near the Likud office described seeing one gunman in a military-style jacket firing on people as they fled.

"I simply saw the terrorist standing, smiling, laughing and shooting in all directions," Galit Cohen told Israel Army Radio. "He simply shot and shot and shot and he didn't stop. People were fleeing and falling."

Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a shadowy group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the Jenin refugee camp this week. The facts of that incident are still disputed by both sides, but Palestinians said two militant leaders, from Al Aqsa and Hamas, died in an explosion.

The Palestinian leadership condemned Thursday's shooting, but an angry Sharon accused the Palestinians of trying to manipulate Israeli voters.

"Terror has another aim -- to influence the elections in Israel," he said in a news conference televised from the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. "It's not important who you support. Don't let terror intimidate you."

Israeli media reported Thursday night that intelligence agents had warned over the past two weeks that the Likud election was vulnerable to attack. Analysts said Sharon's unexpected appeal to voters, deemed by some commentators a political move, nonetheless would not be viewed harshly by the public.

Sharon, who has come to represent a centrist position in war-hardened Israel, has also developed a public persona that Israelis have come to trust, analysts said.

"He was very careful in what he said don't let terrorism deter you from your regular life and the democratic process," said Avraham Diskin, a political science professor from Hebrew University. "It can be portrayed that he tried to increase his chance with those words.

"But we can also take his words just as they were said: `Don't let terror change you.' ... I don't think anyone would blame Sharon for that kind of statement."

The biggest surprise in the Likud primary was not who won but rather the margin of Sharon's victory. Polls in the past weeks had shown Netanyahu slipping steadily. The former prime minister clearly had entered the race to win. But even if he lost, Netanyahu, 53, had also hoped to position himself as heir to the leadership of the 74-year-old Sharon.

The depth of Netanyahu's defeat sparked dour speculation from commentators about his political future. But Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin, a Likud member, dismissed this.

"There's always ups and down in Israeli politics. He's a very young man," Rivlin said about Netanyahu. "Menachem Begin fought these fights for almost 30 years -- and became prime minister."